WORLD HANGES ON QUEBEC DECISIONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1943, Page 3

WORLD HANGES ON QUEBEC DECISIONS

WHERE BLOW FALLS ? Plans Await Final Approval Of Leaders Rec. 11.30 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 19. Allied military plans which will affect the whole course of the war may be put into execution this weekend, says Reuters military correspondent. The Allied staffs in conference in Quebec have had time to complete their strategical plans in the smallest detail. The plans only await the final approval by Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt, after which dramatic developments can be expected immediately the Allies are ready to strike when and where they please. It is not disclosing secrets to say that Sicily affords a magnificent springboard for an attack on the Italian mainland. Well - trained armies, flushed by victory, are on their toes in Sicily awaiting the word to go. German sources report that beaches in the Southern Italian province of Calabria have been mined and all harbour facilities destroyed, but it is taking a very narrow view of Allied vision to dare to imagine that their plans involve only the same narrow strip of water that the Germans found helpful for their evacuation from Sicily. Superiority in Armour Operations farther north give the Allies room for manoeuvre and the opportunity to employ crushing superiority in armour such as could not be fully utilised in Sicily because of the unsuitable terrain. The whole world hangs on the decisions at Quebec, and the suspense will soon be over. . Berlin radio stated that German reconnaissance planes reported a great concentration of Allied landing craft in Bizerta harbour, with strong naval formations. Algiers radio said continuous gunfire from the tip of Sicily crushed several enemy batteries on the Calabrian coast. The Allied fleets completely control the waters around Sicily, and they are shelling troop concentrations and gun positions on the Italian mainland.

The Quebec correspondent of the New York Times says the conference between Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt took a political turn with Mr. Eden's arrival, while Mr. Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, is expected today. They will decide how to deal with Italy and Germany after surrender, the recognition of the French Committee of National Liberation, greater collaboration with Russia and the parts which the military forces of the United Nations, including exiled Governments, will have in any impending European invasion. Russian Collaboration There is every evidence, says the correspondent, that the conference is greatly concerned with the question of Russian collaboration, and from the conference might very quickly come an answer to the Soviet demand for a second front. It is even conceivable that one reason for the Soviet not participating is to kindle the German belief that Russia, Britain and America are drifting apart, while there might be secret plans for military collaboration. The Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Mackenzie King, gave a dinner in Quebec last night for representatives of the Allied conference. Mr. Churchill, President Roosevelt and Mr. Eden were the chief guests. Others included the Chief of Combined Operations, Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, and the British and American chiefs of staff.